Administrators and members of the Student Assembly are making progress toward bringing an alcohol-licensed pub to Cornell’s campus, and they have settled on a location in the Ivy Room in Willard Straight Hall.

“It’s very likely to happen,” Dean of Students Kent Hubbell ’67 said. “We are persuaded that it’s really valuable. We’d like to see if we can open it for the next school year.”

The pub, which came in response to last Fall’s changes to the Greek system’s recognition policy and concerns about the lack of late-night programming on campus, was first proposed in November. The pub would be open to students above and below the drinking age, with alcohol only served to students who are at least 21 years old.

Hubbell said the project has moved into a “logistics phase.”

Historically, Cornell students were able to buy alcohol in a variety of on-campus venues, including Noyes Community Center, the Straight and Robert Purcell Union. The alcohol stopped flowing shortly after the drinking age rose to 21 in 1985.

After a Student Assembly resolution got the ball rolling, Vincent Andrews ’11, the outgoing S.A. president, said that several administrators had begun hammering out the logistics of the project. Cornell Dining is expected to submit a proposal regarding the changes to the Ivy Room, while the University’s Office of Risk Management is assessing the liabilities associated with the project and Cornell Police are assessing the security of the proposed pub, Andrews said.

Food and Beverage Service 

Andrews said that proposed changes to the Ivy Room include the construction of a bar in the rear portion of the room and the restructuring of the food service area to have a single point of sale for food items, located at what is now the pizza bar.

Gail Finan ’69, director of Cornell Dining, could not be reached for comment.

“I think the Ivy Room is going to be an awesome spot,” Andrews said. “There’s a place to build a bar, and the space is large enough for a small stage to allow bands to play during evening hours.”

Andrews said that four locations were considered, and the search was narrowed to the Ivy Room because of the student-centered nature of Willard Straight Hall as well as existing infrastructure for food service.

Andrews said that the logistics of managing a pub open to all Cornell students while enforcing the legal drinking age have already been discussed, though not finalized. He said the pub would be run like any other restaurant bar, with wristbands given to students over 21 after 9:30 p.m.

“All students are going to be allowed in the same room as the alcohol, but it’s going to be pretty strictly regulated for liability issues,” he said.

Risk Management

Allen Bova, director of Cornell’s Office of Risk Management and Insurance, said he looked forward to helping students and administrators create a location that was both safe and enjoyable for students.

“We were not cold to the idea, we were not warm to the idea. Our issues are able to be addressed in the details,” Bova said.

Bova said that the campus pub, when completed, would help to make the University’s social scene safer. 

“I think the University is looking at a lot of different things that could enhance the student social experience to one where [students] could have a good experience in a safe environment. Our hope is to create a safer environment than the one that currently exists,” he said.

Bova said he will take into account students’ perspectives in assessing risk management options, as the pub must attract students for it to be financially viable. 

“We can’t just do something and do it in a vacuum where students aren’t going to support it. It would fall flat very quickly,” Bova said. “This has to be thought out on a risk-management perspective and a student-needs perspective.”

Cornell already serves alcohol in the Statler Hotel, Helen Newman Lanes and the Big Red Barn, Bova said, but students may have higher expectations for the pub.

“We have a lot of work to do, and some of the challenges are significant,” he said. “It’ll be a process, but I hope it will be a process that students are engaged in, and, at the end of the day, hopefully we can get a location that students can support,” Bova said.

Programming

To incentivize programming for the space, Vincent Andrews is working with student organizations to rewrite their charters, stipulating that a certain percentage or dollar amount of S.A. Finance Commission funding be spent on the pub.

“Because the S.A. is the funding arm for all student programming on campus, we can stipulate for certain organizations how they can use that funding,” he said.

Andrews said he hopes the pub will draw musicians, comedy groups and other performers to the Straight. Cornell Concert Commission has already begun researching bands that cost between $500 and $1,000 to bring to the venue, he said.

Multiple student organizations are working to bring programing to the pub, including CCC, the Cornell University Programming Board, the Student Union Board and members of the Greek community. The programming will allow Cornell Dining to keep the pub fiscally viable, Andrews said.

Mike Motley ’12, executive director of SUB, which manages the booking of events at the Straight, said that his organization would likely lead the effort in planning use for the space, with other programming organizations also participating.

Motley said the pub would allow groups to hold events in the Straight in a casual and smaller environment.

The Straight is the University’s only campus-wide student union, Motley said, appealing to freshmen living on North Campus, sophomores, juniors and seniors on West Campus and in Collegetown, and graduate students.

“At present, the Straight is already a hub,” Motley said. “We’re trying to make it into more of a hotspot.”

The Greek System

The idea for the pub came after changes to the Greek recognition policy. Andrews said he grew concerned that prohibiting freshmen from open parties would change the culture of the University and that student life would suffer from a lack of late night programming where freshmen and upperclassmen can mix in a setting outside of the Greek system.

“The purpose of the space is to bring people from all different areas of the campus together,” he said. “Freshmen from North can hang out with seniors from Collegetown on a Thursday or Friday night, listening to live music.”

The pub may bring the Straight back to what it was in the 1960s — a hub for student life and a place for non-Greek affiliated students to gather, according to Dean of Students Hubbell.

“When this building was built, it was viewed not only as a place where all students could come together, but especially for independent students, where they could have a place to be,” he said.

Hubbell said the suggestion for the pub came in response to the University’s actions to gradually remove alcohol at fraternities from the freshman experience.

“[Andrews] felt that what we were doing would have not only an effect on the students in the Greek system, but to the entire community,” he said. “In a lot of ways, the pub was a response to the changes that were taking place in the Greek system.”

Dean of Students Office

As the University has expanded since the 1960s, Hubbell said he has seen the Straight move away from being the center of student life.

“This grand old lady of a building, which is probably one of the most distinguished works of architecture on our campus, is a great facility still, but I think it’s fair to say that the University over the last 30 to 40 years has outgrown its student union,” Hubbell said.

He said he hopes the pub will help revitalize the Straight and make it the focal point for student life once more.

“What we would like to do between now and next August is bundle all kinds of things so that we’ll improve the quality of our student union ... to try to find a way to bring the Straight into the center of student social life on campus, “ he said.

Though the final decision on the pub has not yet been made, Hubbell said its construction is “very likely.” The final decision rests with Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy ’73.

Murphy told The Sun in November that she was hesitant about the pub, based on her experiences as an undergraduate.

“Back when the drinking age was 18, we had behavior problems,” she said. “Having been here when we had pubs before, I’m not sure if I’m eager to go down that path.”

But Hubbell said that Murphy may change her mind.

“I think she has no problems with it as a social venue, per se. I think she still worries about serving alcohol, but I think that she will come around,” he said.

The pub remains a work in progress, and many of the final details still need to be worked out. The exact logistics for security have not been determined, and a proposal from Cornell Dining is still being prepared, Andrews said.

“We’re still inventing it, we’re still imagining what it will be,” Hubbell said. “I’d like to think that it will be a work in progress for a while as we look for opportunities to make it the best it can be.”